The Last Report of the ’25 Season: Ron Rosten at the Monotype XV Worlds

by | May 9, 2025 | 2024-2025, Home Page, WSSA


Monotype XV Archives
4LIYC Vice Commodore and Renegader Ron Rosten typically travels to Europe each year for the DN and Ice Optimist Junior World Championship. With this year’s event postponed until December 2025, Ron already had his airline tickets to Sweden—so he made the best of it. He met up with friends and attended the Monotype World Championship instead.

In case you aren’t familiar with the Monotype XV: it’s a two-person ice yacht with deep roots in European ice sailing. As described on a previous version of Monotype website:

“The Monotype-XV ice yacht was designed in 1932 by the legendary Erik von Holst of Estonia. It became popular in a very short time, and more than 200 yachts were built in but a few years. The yacht is a strict monotype construction; in broad outline, it looks the same as in the nineteen thirties. The structural elements are nowadays joined by modern methods and the use of epoxy adhesive. The bronze runners have been replaced by runners in stainless steel. The sail is of course made of Dacron or an equivalent material. The Monotype-XV is the largest monotype class in Europe today, and the only yacht for two for which European as well as international championships are arranged.”

Specs: Sail area: 15 m² | Length: 7.5 m | Width: 4.2 m | Mast height: 7.2 m | Minimum weight: 205 kg | Crew: 1–2 persons
Monotype XV website

Here’s Ron’s report from the trip, originally shared on our Facebook page.

I forgot to post this back in February so I’ll post these photos now. I was in Sweden this past February and spent 2 days visiting the 2025 Monotype-XV Class Championship. There were 26 boats competing that week on one of the very few sailable lakes in Europe, Lake Storsjön near Sandviken.

The first day I was there was a practice day. In a Monotype regatta, all boats start on a port tack and round the bottom mark in a clockwise direction. Another oddity is the crew member sits facing backwards. The Swedish boat S-29 is the defending champion sailed by Bernhard Rost and crewed by Thomas Tennstrom. They would finish 2nd in this year’s regatta.

There were 2 boats that were made available to junior sailors at the regatta. Probably the talk of the regatta was a boat sailed by 2 Swedish juniors, who happened to be female. Hedvig Liljegren was the skipper and Ellen Fredriksson was her crew. They had a grand total of 1 weekend of practice in the boat before the regatta and finished a very respectable 13th overall. Both are very experienced soft water sailors and are training for the 2028 Olympics. [Speaking of Olympics – the Monotype was the iceboat of choice under consideration for the 1936 Olympics. Story here. –  About Hedvig and Ellen – About the Sailors: Hedvig Liljegren and Ellen Fredriksson are top-tier Swedish sailors training for the 2028 Olympics. You can follow Hedvig’s Olympic campaign with her brother Hugo on Instagram – Ed.]

Monotype 2
Monotype 3
Monotype 4
Monotype 5
Monotype 6
Monotype 7
Monotype 8
Monotype 9
Monotype 10
Monotype 11

First! Converges with GLIYC Swap Meet

by | Oct 23, 2023 | 2023-2024, Home Page

Kai Linde, the first iceboating sailing in the world in Sweden and Dash’s first iceboat trailer rescue.

Ice sailors from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and New York gathered at the Wisconsin Iceboat Swap Meet in Green Lake, WI, on Sunday, October 22, 2023. Meanwhile, 4,000 miles away in Sweden, Norwegian DN sailor Kai Linde had the 2023-2024 season’s first iceboat ride in the world. Who will be first in North America? New York DNer Paul Chamberland, who came for the Swap Meet, will try for that milestone when he visits family in Alberta, Canada, in a few weeks. Paul is optimistic about the upcoming week of ice-making temperatures and hopes to find some sailable ice.

The Green Lake Ice Yacht Club delivered perfect fall weather for the event and organized the raffle, a tradition started by the Skeeter Iceboat Club’s Jane Pegel.

Of course, this being iceboating, a trailer situation presented some problem-solving opportunities right off the bat for new DN Junior Sailing Secretary Sam Bartel. Speaking of Jane Pegel, she generously donated her trailer to the DN Junior program a few years ago. Sam collected the trailer from Madison on Saturday night, but unfortunately, the axle broke on his way to Green Lake near Beaver Dam. As we know, trailers can always be unpredictable. Daniel Hearn, Dale Gordon, Dash, and I swung by Don Anderson’s to borrow a flatbed trailer and rescued the DN trailer on the way home from the Swap Meet with an assist from trailer specialist DNer Matt Meyer.

Thanks to the Green Lake Ice Yacht Club for a fantastic Swap Meet with perfect conditions.

Classic fall day in Green Lake.

The local constabulary tries to keep the peace in Green Lake.

View from the car

First

“Ice sailing season has started! On the 22nd of October at Kuolitisjaure, 700 meters above sea level, just after the Swedish border. Good hard ice, 10 cm thick, but little wind!” via Kai Lind

Picture of the Week: Northern Lights & Classic Dutch Ice Yachts

by | Feb 28, 2023 | 2022-2023, Home Page

Photo: Mark Amsterdam

Previously: Where It All Began
If two subjects belong in the same photograph, it has to be ice yachts and the northern lights. The Dutch ice sailing club, De Robben, trailered traditional yachts to Rattvik, Sweden, for their annual ice sailing holiday at the same time the northern lights appeared. (Below is a photo from Mora, Sweden from their 2020 trip.)

Photo: Maarten De Groot

 

Certain Uncertainty

by | Feb 20, 2023 | 2022-2023, Home Page

Race Committee at Ullnasjön for DN Sweden Ranking Regatta 8.

Uncertainty is the only certainty there is – John Allen Paulos (received PHD from UW Madison)

There’s another tricky weather event sliding towards the Midwest this week. Europe is experiencing the same weather pattern as the DN class tries to find ice for the European Championship. Their primary site in Latvia received too much snow, and they are on the way to Lithuania today. I flew back last night, opting for the more familiar uncertainty of Wisconsin’s weather. A big thank you to DN Sweden for their hospitality at the Grand Masters and Ranking Regattas. What an experience!

The ice optimists (in all classes!) will have their boats ready for the Northwest at Lake Pepin in MN or local 4LIYC racing this coming weekend. Sleet and ice are on tap for the Madison area this week. With a 12″ base of ice, Kegonsa may be an option for club racing. Watch for the Northwest update on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 and the 4LIYC racing update on Friday, February 24.

If you don’t have plans for ice sailing this weekend, the Iceboat Foundation has you covered with certainty. Via Don Sanford:

Mary B fans…
If you have time on your hands this Sunday, February 26, 2023, come on over to the Monona Public Library, 1000 Nichols Rd. in Monona.
Gretta Wing-Miller and I will be guests of the East Side History Club. They invited us on the condition that we bring along our film, Mary B: Madison’s Legendary Iceboat (the fastest thing on ice). And, of course, we will!
Doors open at 1:30
Film starts at 2:00
Come early for a good seat